


It Can Wait Until Tomorrow

by VorpalGirl



Series: Monomyths and Macchiato [2]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: 100 ways to say i love you, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Based on a Tumblr Post, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, M/M, Monomyths and Macchiato, Prompt Fill, Short One Shot, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-23
Updated: 2016-01-23
Packaged: 2018-05-15 19:05:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5796241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VorpalGirl/pseuds/VorpalGirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Even the most dedicated of professors needs to take a break once in a while.</p><p>(Prompt fill based on Entry #62 on the tumblr post "100  Ways To Say I Love You"; set in same 'verse as "Monomyths and Macchiato")</p>
            </blockquote>





	It Can Wait Until Tomorrow

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired in part by the tumblr post "[100 Ways To Say I Love You"](http://vorpalgirl.tumblr.com/post/137778099893/one-hundred-ways-to-say-i-love-you) (by user "p0ck3tf0x"), a fairly cute post about the many little ways people can show their love and consideration in a relationship; it's becoming popular as a "send me one as a prompt" meme, and I got a fairly positive response when I published a version of this as a fill for one such prompt, so I decided to polish it up a little and post it here. Especially since I imagine the 'verse it's in as being that of my "Monomyths and Macchiato" serial, which is already on here. 
> 
> This is (at the moment) set after the planned events of M&M, but I don't consider the fact that they're already together to be at all a "spoiler" since it's so incredibly and deliberately obvious in the setup of the original that they'll end up that way - that one's more about the journey than the destination. You can read this before or after that one with zero problem, I feel. :)

 

Genesis felt his eye twitch.  
  
_“It is my belief that that in the LOVELESS saga, the Goddess was a woman whom the protagonists all three loved and I will establish this in course of this essay.”_  
  
Bad enough that _despite_ his assurances that his students could abandon the old, childishly simplified essay formats that they were used to, this one had resorted to the old chestnut of the Stilted and Overly Specific Thesis Statement as Opening Sentence; there were also at least _four_  incredibly basic errors in said sentence. Overall, he _enjoyed_ sharing his love of literature with eager young minds and technically (albeit barely) getting paid to do it, but this?  
  
_This_ was _not_ college-level work.  And he could already tell it was going to be sheer drudgery to grade, from start to finish.  
  
He sighed deeply, and uncapped the Red Pen. 

He checked it off in his mind as he went: a tiny stroke to cross out the excess “that” –  _doesn’t spell check normally catch doubled words?_ ; a carat to indicate insertion of “the” in the middle of “in course” – _did no one at all proofread this?_ ; an underline beneath  _“_ and I will establish this in course of this essay”with a gentle note in the margin about how it was “not necessary” to state the obvious  –  _of course a persuasive essay would be trying to persuade one of its opening thesis, come **on** now._

(Unwritten – because even the snarkiest of Shinra University professors had  _some_ tact – was the secondary thought: “ _There are better ways to pad your word count, kid.”)_

He continued, crossing through the unnecessary “the” and circling “all three” with an arrow to place it in front of “protagonists” –  _seriously?? Wait, is this student one of the foreign ones or…? Note to self: check if Midgardian is their native language…wait, maybe that was just a lack of commas? Should I have just inserted commas? No, that wouldn’t have improved it much; even if it had been intended to have commas there, it just would have been more grammatically correct –_

He had yet to even circle the “was” to point out that “ _literary discussion of this nature would normally be done in present tense” ,_ when a quiet _clunk_ announced the appearance of a ceramic mug on his desk – full of still-steaming water, a bag of his favorite tea already steeping in it. He hadn’t even noticed the sound of the microwave or kettle.

That brought forth a smile, at least. “Thank you,” he said, leaning his head back over his shoulder to offer lips that were happily met.   
  
“Mm,” Zack replied, the kiss lingering before he added: “You’re very welcome.”  
  
“Not that I at all disapprove,” Genesis said, because he didn’t, _not at all_. “But what prompted this?”  
  
“You’ve been sighing in that ‘This is the end of literature studies as we know it’ kinda way for over two minutes,” Zack teased.  
  
He snorted. “Well, it certainly _feels_ that way. I haven’t even gotten to the actual _argument_ and I’m already making corrections.”  
  
Zack made a sympathetic sound, and slid his arms around the redhead’s neck, pressing their cheeks gently together. “Sounds like you could use a break.”  
  
“Mm…tempting,” Genesis said. “But… I really _should_ finish grading these.”  
  
“Really?” Zack pouted, turning his head to place a kiss upon his cheek, which turned into a nuzzle, and then another kiss – that one tantalizingly close to his mouth. “Because I _know_ you don’t have to pass those out until the next class…which isn’t until Thursday.”  
  
“Truuuue,” Genesis admitted.  
  
Both pen and paper disappeared from his hands. The former clinked into his pen-holder; the latter fell to the desk with a soft  _plop_.  
  
Genesis raised an eyebrow, but his lips were captured just as he tried to open them.   
  
The kiss was careful, gentle…pleasantly languid. Fingers slowly worked their way into his hair, caressing his scalp, and he found himself melting into every one of those touches.  
  
When at last their lips separated enough for him to look Zack in the eye – and what gloriously _smoldering_ eyes those were, a perfect match for those plump and playful lips – he took a deep breath, and admitted something that he rarely, if ever did:  
  
“…it can wait until tomorrow.”  
  
 


End file.
